A Mother's Choice
by KittyKax
Summary: Leaving her family behind to marry the love of her life was a hard decision. Going back and begging her father to take her in was even harder. But the hardest decision of Thalassa Gramarye's life...was giving up her son.


She vowed to never return to him.

_"But father! I love him! Why can't you see how wonderful and talented he is?"_

_"Bah! Parlor tricks is what they are! Such nonsense will only tarnish the Troupe Gramarye name!"_

_"Well...i-if you won't accept him...then I quit!"_

_"Fine! Go ahead and play magic show! You'll be back, you'll come crawling back...!"_

* * *

That was almost 2 years ago, and he was right. Here she was, standing inside her father's studio, crawling back like a defeated puppy. It made her want to vomit thinking about how pathetic she was being. After an exit like that, she expected to never have to locate Magnifi Gramarye again...

"Thalassa!?" A familiar man's voice appeared to which she looked up to, and then walked in the man she thought she would never see again.

"Shadi..." Thalassa said stunned, recognizing her father's student.

"Actually, it's Zak now." the man said with an air of confident, "Zak Gramarye, your father had just appointed me no longer an apprentice, but a full member of Troupe Gramarye!"

"Oh! Congratulations Sha-I mean, Zak."

Zak looked away for a moment, "I um, heard about what happened, I'm truly sorry for your loss. It's tragic how dangerous our profession can actually be."

"Yes, it is." she didn't even want to think about that day, it had only been a week after all. It was supposed to be just a simple routine, one he had performed many times before without fail. Only this night, something had gone horrible wrong, and before she knew it, the love of her life was gone. Taken from her like everything else in her life...with only one thing to remember him by.

"Is that...?" Zak looked down to Thalassa's chest area...where a small baby was clutching onto her cloak in her arms.

Thalassa looked down at the bundle "Yes, this is my son." The boy looked up at Zak with large brown eyes, the exact shade as Thalassa's, with his soft brown hair poking up in a messy fashion at the base of his forehead.

"He looks like you...how old is he?"

"He turned a year old last month."

"What a shame..." Zak sighed, but then quickly changed subject when he saw the pain in Thalassa's eyes, "So um...did you come here to see Magnifi?"

Thalassa hopelessly sighed "Unfortunately yes, is he in?"

"He's in his den, luckily you've caught him while he's in a good mood."

"Thank you, Zak."

"Thalassa!" Zak called her name as she made her way towards the den, causing her to turn around, "It...it's good to see you again...I never stopped thinking about you."

Thalassa then smiled for the first time in days, "I'm glad at least someone is happy to see me."

Magnifi Gramarye was hard at work as usual, sitting on his large purple chair at his desk sorting through the abundance amount of paperwork from property bills to insurance forms. He was so focused on his task at hand that he didn't even look up when he heard his door open and close,

"Valant! Do you have any idea how much these venues are charging these days!? Do they not realize times are tough with-" Magnifi stopped when he finally glanced up and saw not his newest pupil, but his daughter, "You..."

"Yes father...I've done exactly what you predicted, I've come back."

"I knew you would." Magnifi leaned back in his chair, a small smirk even formed on his wrinkled face, "I told you he was an amateur, only a fool would let his magic get the best of him."

"Father please!" Thalassa lashed out between her teeth, "I would rather not discuss that right now, all that matters is I've come back to the show."

"Oh have you now?" Magnifi sat up now, "You deliberately betrayed myself and the entire troupe, and you expect me to just welcome you back with open arms?"

"I am your daughter! You know as well as I do how strong my power is! You said it yourself times are tough, you need me...just as much as I need you."

Magnifi gritted his teeth, knowing she was completely right. Without Thalassa's power to work in conjunction with his, their entire show falls flat. For years Magnifi had been training Zak to awaken his own powers, but alas no matter how long and hard they trained, his never became as powerful as Thalassa's. Magnifi did need her.

"Fine, you can come back to the show...on a couple of conditions."

The young woman braced herself.

"First, you will only perform with myself, Zak, or Valant, nobody else, and absolutely no solo acts. And second," Magnifi shifted his gaze towards the baby he noticed in Thalassa's arms, "The child must go."

Thalassa was stunned, "E-excuse me?"

"You heard me right, Troupe Gramarye is no place for an infant, he will only be a nuisance. Get rid of him."

"Are you mad!?" Thalassa clutched her child closer to her chest, "You want me to give up my only child?! _Your _grandchild!? The only thing I have left of..."

"I'm giving you an ultimatum," Magnifi looked at the young woman with a hard demeanor as he pressed his fingers together, "either the boy goes or you go and never come back. The choice is yours."

Thalassa wanted to leave, she wanted to just tell her father off and walk out of that office without looking back...but she couldn't. The fact was, she was down to her last dollars, she had no place to live, she had no skills or education to support herself or her son. They would be destitute, and it had come to the point where she had no choice.

"Fine...I'll do it." Thalassa said holding back tears.

Magnifi could only smile, "Welcome back, my daughter."

* * *

Zak had asked if she wanted him to come with her, but Thalassa knew she had to do this on her own, it would be less painful that way. It was late at night and thankfully nobody was walking around in the streets. Thalassa had looked up the orphanage ahead of time, making sure that it was going to be a safe environment for her son. Then she walked to the front door, placed a small basket down on on the porch, and held her baby in her arms one last time. Thankfully he was asleep, if he were awake, and she had to look into his big eyes, full of hope, full of dreams, she probably wouldn't have been able to go through with it.

After gently laying the sleeping toddler in the basket, Thalassa laid down a small note for the orphanage to read, and then she lifted her wrist and removed one of her precious gold alloy bracelets, gently looping it onto her son's wrist even though it was much too large for his small arm. The boy was so young that he wouldn't retain any memories of his mother, but leaving him this would be at least one thing from her and he could have, as a way to connect them even though they would be apart.

Just as the baby began to stir, Thalassa rapidly knocked on the door and hastily ran across the street to hide behind a nearby tree. A few moments later the door was answered by an older woman, who quickly noticed the crying toddler and picked him up in her arms. The woman looked around for a moment, possibly searching for whoever left the child, but then noticed the letter attached to the basket and read it.

"You poor dear..." The woman said to her new found bundle as she turned around and walked back inside, shutting the door behind her. It was then that Thalassa's tears finally fell from her eyes, he was gone now, she was no longer his mother, and all she could do was whimper as she said guidance to her son even though he couldn't hear her,

"...Be strong...do good..." Thalassa said as she sniffed, "...and show the world who you are...Apollo..."


End file.
